Congratulations
by annam8td
Summary: Years after their relationship ends, Lance and Kitty run into each other at a coffee shop, causing lingering feelings and unspoken words to come rushing out. Rated T for some swear words, just to be on the safe side


A/N: This is another fic I thought of on my way home from school (the commute is long enough to clear one's head and come up with new to write), and has a pairing that I never would have thought of using, though for the sake of drama will be a Lancitty fic, with some Kietro tones mixed in, though mainly Lancitty…bear with me please. I don't own any of the characters, and the song is "Congratulations" by Blue October featuring Imogen Heap, so they own it. Reviews would be nice…

Lance walks along the street lined with boutiques and coffee shops, trying to clear his head. Work was stressful (SHIELD was sending him to some random country that he'd never even heard of to help monitor seismic activity) and home is even more stressful with Wanda constantly rejecting Toad's affections, as well as propelling him through walls in fits of rage. Blob never wanted to move out of the living room, and Pietro was always working or out with his fiancé, whom the Brotherhood had never met, leaving Lance in the midst of chaos. He just had to get out and go somewhere. A cold autumn breeze rushes by him, and, thinking that caffeine might do him some good, Lance ducks into the next coffee shop he saw.

He stood in line, ordered a large black coffee, and headed for the door, only to notice a familiar face sitting at a table in the corner. This familiar face belonged to Kitty Pryde. Lance pushes aside thoughts of their turbulent and eventually terminated relationship, and, lead by lingering feelings, walks over to say hello.

**Is that seat taken  
Congratulations  
Would you like to take a walk with me **

Kitty sits in her favorite coffee shop, hoping to meet her significant other and avoid the brisk autumn air simultaneously. After reading a text message saying that her companion was running late (no pun intended), she grabbed a newspaper off of another table and began to read, taking sips of her warm chai latte in between articles. Out of the corner of her eye, Kitty notices a tall male with shoulder-length brown hair walking towards her. She sighs. _Lance_. Back in high school, when the two were an item, she and Lance had a tumultuous relationship; the two couldn't seem to agree on anything, other than their mutual feelings. However, the rocky nature (again, no pun intended) of their relationship lead to the two calling it quits a few years back. Since then, the two had gone their separate ways, she to a local university to study nursing, and Lance chose to work for a government agency. The two hadn't spoken in years, though that was about to change. Kitty glues her eyes to the article in front of her.

"Is that seat taken?" Lance asks, gesturing to the one in front of Kitty. "Sorry," she responds, not looking up. "Someone's like, meeting me shor-oh, hi Lance" she says, faking surprise, not bothering to hide the uncertainty in her voice. "Mind if I sit here?" he asks again. Kitty looks around, avoiding eye contact. "Sure. Go ahead."

Lance sits in the chair as Kitty puts her newspaper back together. "Anything interesting?" Lance asks. "Actually," Kitty responds, struggling to get the inserts to line up well enough to fold properly, "I was just catching up on some reading about…" she reads the first head line she saw in front of her, "the ever growing concern of evolutionary fate of the…pine sawyer beetle." _Smooth genius,_ she scolds herself. Lance laughs quietly. "I never pegged you for an entomology buff," he says. Kitty smiles and shakes her head. "I'm not. I was reading this paper for the gossip," she confesses.

"I figured," Lance says, sipping his coffee. _You sound like an ass!_ He mentally scolded. _Quick! Say something nice!_ "Uh, not that I don't expect you to like something so, uh, fascinating, but uh, I just remembered that you found gossip more uh, entertaining…" _Smooth move Shakedown!_ Kitty's face resembles that of a child who was just caught with their hands in a cookie jar, "I still do. So what brings you here?" she asks. _Dumb question_, she thinks to herself. Lance shrugs, "Just wanted to get out of the cold, grab some coffee." "Yeah, they have good coffee here. Lattes too," she points out. The two sip their coffee in moments of silence

"Sorry," Lance says, sighing deeply, "I guess it's too soon for us to talk as though nothing happened between us. I'll leave you to your newspaper. Sorry for the awkward moment." He stands up to leave. "No, it's alright," Kitty assures, "You don't have to leave. I guess we both need to try at this whole "post break up interaction" thing."

"But you said that someone is gonna meet you soon," Lance points out. "I don't think that they'd like me sitting in their seat." Kitty waves her hand as though waving the issue aside. "Oh, Pietro won't mind." Kitty gasps and covers her mouth, as though she's said something she shouldn't have. Lance freezes, feeling as though he was punched in the stomach. "You're meeting Pietro here? He said he was gonna meet his fia-" Kitty nods slightly, her eyes glued to the table, and her face flushing. "No wonder Pietro didn't bother to introduce us; we've already met." Kitty nods, embarrassed.

"Well, congratulations, and I'll leave you two alone," Lance says insincerely. He grabs his coffee, not wanting to make eye contact with Kitty again, and heads towards the door. _Why did he have to pick Kitty? Why didn't he go for some other girl? Some other girl that _I _don't have feelings for?_ Lance hears a small vibration, and Kitty slides her cell-phone from her pocket and sighs. "You don't have to leave, Pietro's not coming. SHIELD's got him working on data analyses and Lord only knows when he'll be done. You can stay…only if you want to, that is." She tucks her phone back into her pocket, and Lance takes his seat once more. "I'll stay, but if things get even more awkward, I'm outta here faster than Pietro could run away from his own sister." Kitty giggles, smiles her pretty smile. "I don't blame you." Then her face becomes stern, and her grip on her cup tightens.

"And I'm sorry about this. Pietro wanted to tell you, but I…told him not to." She stares into her latte as though it holds a way to justify her actions. "Like, I just thought…with the way that you and I left things…that this would be…easier." "For who, exactly?" Lance asks venomously. "For…everyone. Like, I didn't think that you would have handled this very well, and I didn't wanna make things awkward with the rest of the Brotherhood…" Kitty explains.

"Makes sense," admits Lance, though his feelings inside are twisting and turning and changing as he learns more. "Had I known he was dating you from the get-go I probably would have plunged the boarding house into the Earth's core. Hearing about it now though, yeah it hurts, but I'm not gonna kill anyone over it." _Might yell at and threaten Pietro's life, but I won't kill him._

"Thanks, Lance, it means a lot," Kitty calmly sips her latte. Lance looks out the window at the front of the café, notices that the leaves have stopped rustling, the wind has died down. "You wanna go for a walk?" he asks suddenly. "Excuse me?" Kitty asks, confused. "A walk? Wanna go for one? With me? " Kitty stares at her cup. "I don't know Lance…won't it be….?" Lance shrugs again. "Things can't get any more awkward than they already are. And for Pietro's sake, we should probably learn to get along."

"I don't know," Kitty says, her voice a mixture of whining, uncertainty, and fear. "Oh come on, we're practically platonic relatives, and relatives have to get along with each other." "I guess so…" "Cool. We should go while the wind has died down." The two polish off their drinks, and Kitty slides a black windbreaker on, grabs her clutch. Lance looks at his companion, hoping that she can't sense his longing to be with her again, and the two head out. Kitty giggles when Lance holds the door open for her, and he smiles when she giggles.

"So, what do you wanna talk about?" Kitty asks, bracing herself for a shock of cold that doesn't come. "I'm not sure," Lance admits, suggesting that they start where they left off. He's been wondering what she's been up to this whole time, wondering if she's thought about him the way he's thought about her. "You mean after we broke up?" She asks, shocked that he would care about that type of stuff. "Yeah, why not? It's a long sidewalk, so why don't you start?" Kitty smiles, and starts her story.

**My mind it kind of goes fast  
I try to slow it down for you  
I think I'd love to take a drive  
I want to give you something  
I've been wanting to give to you for years  
My heart **

Kitty and Lance walk side by side, sharing stories of their work since high school; Kitty shares stories from college and the nursing program, home and her first job. Lance tells tales of his worldly SHIELD-related travels, and of the Brotherhood's immature antics. He tells tale after tale after tale, excited to finally share these stories, to make pretty Kitty toss her head back and laugh. Maybe she laughs like this with Pietro, but Lance didn't care. He felt like the only one who could make her feel this good right now. She made him feel good too. It all just felt good; laughing and talking side by side, feeling mentally intimate, feeling as though nothing had changed. _But some things have changed, _Lance reminds himself. And some things hadn't.

For the past few years, Lance constantly thought about Kitty, about how her life would turn out without him, hoe things might have gone differently if he'd known how to be a better boyfriend, a better companion. But all that's passed; she's made a great life for herself, and even moved on, she's marrying Pietro for crying out loud. The short little walk turned long, the sun started to hide behind the trees, the wind picked up speed. Kitty shivers, pulling her jacket closer to her skin.

"Well Lance," she says, trying to prevent her teeth from chattering, "It was nice for us to catch up. But it's like, getting cold and I should be heading back home." Lance's heart stopped; he didn't want this moment to end. He would never get a moment like this back, never get to show her how good he could have been to her, how special she'd have been to him. Lance lifts his shoulders to brace himself against a gust of wind. _I still have these feelings,_ he reminds himself. _I can't let her be with Pietro and not know them._

"You need a ride?" he asks. Kitty shakes her head, saying that the apartment she and Rogue rent is only a few blocks away. "Plus, I can use the exercise," she jokes. Lance looks her thin frame over, laughs at her comment. "Yeah right, if anything you need to sit around more. Anymore exercise and you'll be a toothpick." Kitty looks away, suddenly self-conscious. _Idiot!_ He scolds himself. "Look, Kitty, it's getting way cold out, and no matter how close you live to here, it won't do anyone any good for you to get hypothermia. Plus, Pietro would kill me if I didn't make sure you got home safe." I'd_ kill me if anything happened to you._

"Well, I guess I can't argue with that logic," she says, and with that Lance leads her to his Jeep. Kitty smirks when she sees the large green machine. "I see your taste in cars hasn't changed. You still cling to this old car," she jokes. Lance opens the passenger door for her and she climbs in, sitting in the familiar upholstery. Lance tells Kitty that she has no idea what he's been clinging to all the time before closing her door. He takes his seat on the other side of the car, sighs deeply. _Just tell her you imbecile! Tell her how you feel now before you miss your chance!_

**My heart, my pain won't cover up  
You left me... hu hu hu hu  
My heart won't take this cover up  
You left me… hu hu hu hu **

The atmosphere in the Jeep is completely different than when Kitty and Lance were walking together. They are withdrawn and silent, afraid to break the silence, aside from Kitty giving Lance directions to her apartment.

Lance tries to come up with the words to express how he's felt about Kitty since their relationship ended, how he could never really find anyone who was her equal. No matter where he looked, no matter how hard he tried, she was irreplaceable. He would have continued trying to move on, to find a runner-up, but the way she made him feel during their conversation made him realize that a runner-up wouldn't complete him they way she has.

Kitty is plagued by feelings of old and new, grappling with the strong feelings she held for Lance back then, the feelings that had been unearthed since their earlier encounter. She thought of her relationship with Pietro. How, even though he seemed to be a "rebound guy", the two had a lot more in common than previously anticipated, and how the two eventually fell in love. How the two were going to spend the rest of their lives together. How she had found the one, her soul mate, the cheese to her macaroni. But then seeing Lance again made her feel unsure about her decision, uncertain that she is doing the right thing.

"Right here," Kitty says, pointing to a large, red-bricked building with a stereotypical glass lobby on the ground level. She unlocks her seatbelt, thanks Lance for the ride. "It was nice to catch up with you. Maybe now Pietro will tell the rest of the Brotherhood about us, seeing as how you're so cool with it." Lance keeps his eyes glued to his steering wheel. Kitty reaches for the door handle, waits for a response. "You are cool with this, right Lance?"

I came to see the light in my best friend  
You seemed as happy as you'd ever been  
My chance of being open was broken  
And now you're Mrs. him.

"It doesn't matter what I think, Kitty," Lance says woefully, preparing to pour his heart out "You don't need me to make your decisions for you. I mean, you must love Pietro, to wanna spend your life with him and all. And he must make you happy, because I know he comes back to the boarding house all love struck and puppy dog-ish, raving about how wonderful his fiancé is." Kitty pulls her hand back away from the handle, places it in her lap.

"There's something else," Kitty points out, "Something you're not telling me." Lance sighs again. "It's just…" "Just what?" Kitty asks sternly. "You never had a problem saying what you wanted, so what's stopping you now?"

"It's just…" This is the moment Lance has thought about, the one where he would just put his feelings out in the open, lay all his cards down on the table, hope for the best. Putting himself out there would make Lance feel vulnerable, but you gotta take risks in life, and this is one risk that he has to take. "It's just that…you're gonna marry Pietro."

My words they don't come out right  
But I'll try to say I'm happy for you  
I think I'm going to take that drive  
I want to give you something  
I've been wanting to give to you for years  
My heart

"What does that mean?" Kitty asks angrily. "You think we don't belong together?" "Well, if you think you two belong together, that's all that matters," Lance passively responds. "Like, that doesn't answer the question Lance. What do _you _think about Pietro and me?" Lance drives into the parking lot right next to Kitty's apartment building. "Lance, what is this?" Kitty asks, concerned.

"You wanna know how I feel about you and Pietro?" he asks. Kitty nods, a lump forming in her throat. "I think it sucks."  
**  
My heart, my pain won't cover up  
You left me… hu hu hu hu  
My heart  
My heart won't take this cover up  
You left me… hu hu hu hu**

Kitty sits in silence as Lance spills his heart out. He tells her everything he feels: how dumb he was to let her go back in high school, how he never stopped thinking about her, wondering what could have been. He says that she doesn't belong with Pietro, someone as immature and ADHD as Pietro. How their meeting this afternoon made all sorts of feelings rise up in him, how he just had to tell her how he felt before it was too late. He apologized for the way he acted when they were younger, hoped that maybe there would be a way for them to start over, romantic or otherwise. Even if she does go through and marry Pietro, he will never stop feeling the way he does about her, and how he just wants her to be happy at the end of the day.

Kitty rubs her hands together, taking in everything that Lance has just said to her. Lance can't take the silence. "Kitty?"

"Why are you doing this to me?" Kitty asks, her eyes glistening as tears form. "Why would you say this all to me now? Why didn't you just tell me how you felt then? Why didn't you just…" Tears escape her eyes and she's choking on her words. Lance can only stare at her in shock; he never wanted to upset her. "I can't believe you!" she shouts fiercely. "You…you're just telling me this because you don't want me to marry Pietro! You're jealous of him! You don't really want me to be happy or you would never have said this!"

"I was too proud to say anything back then," Lance confesses, feeling like the world's biggest idiot. "I didn't know what to say, or even if you would listen to me. And of course I want you to be happy, but I couldn't let you go any further without telling you how I felt—how I still feel."

"If I hadn't told you Pietro and I were getting married, would you still have told me this?" she asks. Lance doesn't want to answer her, for he knows the answer is no. The silence is the only answer that Kitty needs to hear. "Thanks for the ride Lance, but I can't deal with this right now." She opens the door and runs from the car, wiping streaks of tears from her face.  
**  
And I can't change this  
I can never take it back  
But now I can't change your mind  
(You left me)  
And I can't take this  
I can never take this back  
But now I can't change your mind  
can't change your mind  
(You left me)  
Can't change your mind  
(You left me… hu hu hu hu)  
(You left me… hu hu hu hu)  
(You left me… hu hu hu hu)  
(You left me… hu hu hu hu) **

Kitty runs into the building of her lobby, not bothering to look back. Lance sits in his Jeep, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles. _Boy, I really blew it. Pietro's gonna fucking kill me._ Lance shifts the car into drive, and mutters to himself all the way home about how he should have just kept his damn mouth shut and lied to her. But he couldn't have lied to her, because then he would be lying to himself. Denying anything that had to do with Kitty Pryde had hurt him up until now, but admitting his feelings didn't seem to help him either. _Story of my life,_ Lance bitterly tells himself as he moves further and further 

Go away  
Make it go away  
Please.

Kitty rummages through her coat pockets for her keys, wiping away angry tears. She opens the door, slamming her clutch on the table and slams the door shut. "Damnit Lance," she mumbles, throwing her coat over a dining room chair, all the while trying to get all of Lance's bottled up feelings out of her mind. He loved her then, still loves her now even though they haven't spoken in years, doesn't want her to marry Pietro. On the surface she appears angry and upset about Lance's resenting her relationship with Pietro, but some searching lead her to reinterpret her own feelings—she's angry and upset that Lance hadn't said anything sooner, hadn't even tried to. She sits on her bed, hugs her knees against her chest. _This is all too much,_ she says to herself, rocking back and forth slightly. _Just make it all go away, please._


End file.
